MY JOURNAL

Before lockdown, my brother and I never really had a close relationship. By nature he is shy and relatively quiet plus he has typical teenage boy interests; like PlayStation games, phone games and cricket. We had nothing in common to connect us like my sister and I have. This has always bothered me because I often worried that he may have had the perception that I love Megan more, or that I had no interest in being part of his life. This was one of the main reasons I brought my family over to Korea last year and during their trip I learned a lot more about his personality and how very funny he is, but we didn’t kindle a connection yet.

On March 13th I flew to South Africa for a long overdue visit. I hadn’t seen friends for over three years, I missed the African sun, I was set to attend a Jacki Bruniquel workshop that I had wanted to attend for years and I really needed a break. However I was not ready for the announcement of a hard lockdown for 21 days. It was scheduled to start on March 26, 4 days before I was going to leave.

One day we were driving past a field of horses and a tiny voice said “I want to ride horses Mommy”. My little sister was in the back dreaming big dreams already. She fell in love with horses at a very young age and we all thought it was just a phase. The phase most little girls go through. But for Megan her love for horses only grew stronger.

Patrick and Rira live and work in South Korea’s cosmopolitan capital, Seoul. They love the diversity of cultures and food Pyeongtaek (the area where they live) has to offer. Visiting different restaurants and sharing their favourite ice cream are just a couple of things they enjoy doing together.

The couple’s friends and family are quite diverse too. Pat’s mom flew in from the US and most of his friends who attended the wedding, are US military soldiers stationed in Seoul. Rira had friends fly in from Sydney, Australia too.

Wilson and Younglee have been living in Gwangju for a while, a city they both hold dear, and a city that has embraced them with its delightful food, peaceful suburban life and wonderful city (outskirts) nature.

They both have many things in common like hiking, traveling, taking on short adventures and are especially fond of the fall season, as the days become shorter, the air is crisp and the leaves shed from the maple trees. This was one of the main reasons why they decided to hold their wedding at the most beautiful time of the year according to Younglee.

I’m always excited to photograph a wedding, every occasion brings a lot of happiness, expectations and emotions into my life. Although I do love all of them, I have to admit that I have some favorites.  This year I photographed the wedding of someone who had had a profound impact on my life. There wasn’t a way I could repay him for how much he helped me and no words could convey my gratitude.  Since I’m not good with words, photography was a language I knew could channel and express my vast thankfulness. 

Lisa & Louis (a South African couple) have called Gwangju home for the past 12 years. The couple met in high school and after getting married settled in South Korea. About six years ago they started their beautiful family. Being of South African decent and born in Korea, Lerene, Larkin & Lerissa, have quite a story of their own to tell their children one day.

Jaypee introduced Kriem to my work in 2015. She loved my style and decided then that one day I would take their pictures. As fate would have it, our paths crossed in 2017 where Kriem was one of the models at a shoot I did for the Vday Gwangju Vagina Monologues Campaign. She asked me then that if she and Jaypee should ever tie the knot, if I would take their wedding pictures. I may have blushed just a little… 

The year got off to a slow start (which was quite alarming), but now I realize why. The universe was giving me the space to re-group. In this time I got to know myself a little better, identify where I was headed and what I wanted for my business. Also the kind of experience I wanted to create for my clients and re-evaluate my photographic style. This lead me (finally) to switch camera systems. It has been something I’ve been wanting to do for a few years now, but have been quite apprehensive about. I am in love with my new tools and the experience they give me!

Han Da and Stacey traveled from the Philippines for their prenup photographs. As Han Da is Korean-born (among other reasons) they decided on beautiful Korea as their destination location. Korea is majestic in the autumn months and so, Han Da and Stacey had only one requirement: breathtaking autumn scenes…